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Updated March 10, 2000 12:40 a.m. ET

THE BARBARIANS ARE COMING

By David Wong Louie (Putnam, 372 pages, $23.95)

T he narrator and protagonist of David Wong Louie's first novel is overwhelmed by a passivity that runs even deeper than his need to escape his past. Sterling Lung desperately wants to live up to his precious name, but he lacks the will to take control of his life.